Skudeneshavn

Skudeneshavn

One of Norway's most impressive collections of restored houses can be found in tiny Skudeneshavn, a short drive from Haugesund on the southern tip of Karmøy Island, where historic lighthouses guide ships safely to the Karmsundet Strait to this day. The town’s 130 or so white wooden homes, many with small gardens, date from the late 19th-century herring boom and are national treasures of Norway. You can wander among them—most are along a main street—ducking into the side mews. One timber house is now the Mæland Museum, a re-creation of a prosperous merchant’s home with displays on everything from blacksmithing to dentistry.